Choosing The Best Blood Pressure Monitor For Home Use

If you suffer from hypertension or any other medical condition caused by high blood pressure and if your doctor has recommended that you monitor your blood pressure regularly, then buying a blood pressure monitor for use at home may be a good decision.

Best Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor

Our review of the best blood pressure monitors and our buying guide should make things much easier for you in choosing a monitor that would be ideal for your home usage.

Winner: Omron 7 Series Wrist Blood Pressure Monitor

If you are looking for a blood pressure monitor that offers excellent accuracy along with portability, then the Omron 7 Monitor is a good option to consider. The wrist monitors from Omron are tested for their accuracy and guarantees complete peace of mind as it offers the greatest reliability and precision.

The Omron 7 monitor allows you to measure your blood pressure very easily. The Heart Zone Guidance of the wrist blood pressure monitor inflates automatically when the wrist is positioned at the heart level.

source: omronhealthcare.com

The monitor is equipped with orange and blue indicator lights which allows you to determine the proper position of the monitor. When the wrist is at the heart level, the blue light appears. To get a reading, all you have to do is press a button and the band of the wrist monitor fills with air and gives you the blood pressure readings.

The Omron 7 inflates very silently and allows you to measure your blood pressure readings anytime and anywhere without a lot of fuss. The sleek and slim design of the Omron 7 monitor makes it extremely discreet and also very convenient to carry with you wherever you go.

The blood pressure monitor stores all your health information and allows you to review it whenever required. The level bar also allows you to compare your readings to the international standards for normal levels of blood pressure.

The Omron 7 monitor also has the capability of detecting your heartbeat and in case of an irregular heartbeat, while the blood pressure is being measured, the monitor alerts you about it. The wrist monitor is equipped with advanced averaging technology that takes three readings within 10 minutes and displays the average.

The monitor offers a memory that can store up to 100 readings with a time and date stamp and lets you review your readings with a simple press of a button. The cuff of the Omron 7 monitor fits wrist sizes of 51/4– 81/2-inch circumference and the monitor comes along with an instruction manual, a quick start guide, 2 AAA batteries and a storage case.

Not only is the Omron 7 monitor extremely comfortable, it is compact, ultra-portable and accurate too, making it the best-rated blood pressure monitor.

Runner Up: Generation Guard Blood Pressure Monitor

Looking for a blood pressure monitor that you can wear on your wrist? Then it may be worth your while to consider buying the blood pressure monitor from Generation Guard.

This is a great blood pressure monitor which is extremely easy to use, accurate and offers convenient storage, as well as portability. The Generation Guard monitor is the best blood pressure monitor for home use.

The Generation Guard monitor lets you measure your blood pressure instantly in just 3 easy steps. Strap the monitor comfortably around your wrist, sit in a proper position and press the start button. The large screen display of the Generation Guard monitor allows you to see the readings clearly at a glance.

source: generationguard.com

The blood pressure monitor is approved by the FDA and offers high quality, reliability and precision at all times. The advanced measuring technique gives you a reading very quickly that is clinically accurate. The monitor provides readings in mmHg, as well as KPa.

And, along with the systolic and diastolic readings, the monitor also provides the heart rate and it also has an indicator that alerts you in the case of hypertension. The monitor has a memory recall feature that lets you record and displays your previous readings.

The BP monitor can store up to 90 readings and is suitable for use by people of all ages and the cuff comfortably fits wrists of sizes between 5”-9”. The Generation Guard blood pressure monitor comes along with 2 AAA batteries and the company offers a 100% money-back guarantee in case of manufacturing defects.

Overall, the Generation Guard wrist monitor is an excellent device to buy considering the ease of use, the affordable price and the excellent storage capacity it offers. A big plus is that it offers accurate results too, all of these features which make the Generation Guard the best blood pressure monitor.

Best Home Blood Pressure Monitor

Winner: Omron 10 Series Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor

Omron is the manufacturer of blood pressure monitors for the last 40 years and has been recommended by doctors as the No. 1 brand worldwide. The Omron 10 Upper Arm Monitor is designed for home use and is probably the best home blood pressure monitor you could consider buying.

The BP monitor is very easy to operate and all you have to do is simply put in the batteries, plug the cuff into the monitor, place the cuff properly on your arm and start the monitor by pressing the start button. The monitor can also be operated using the Quick Start feature.

source: omronhealthcare.com

The Omron 10 blood pressure monitor has a wide range Comfit Easy-Wrap cuff for the upper arm, which is contoured to offer a proper and comfortable fit that helps to reduce the risk of getting wrong blood pressure readings due to improper positioning of the pressure cuff.

The cuff can comfortably fit varied arm sizes, both regular and large (of circumference 9 inches to 17 inches). The monitor is equipped with TrueRead technology which takes 3 BP readings continuously within a period of 10 minutes, at intervals of one minute and calculates the average of the readings to give you the accurate one.

The Omron 10 monitor has a backlit LCD display screen that provides large-size readings that you can read very easily at a glance and it also has an indicator which flashes in various colors. For instance, if your blood pressure is in the safe range, the indicator turns green and if the BP reading is very high or hypertensive, the indicator light turns orange.

The BP monitor from Omron is extremely innovative and has Bluetooth technology which helps you to connect wirelessly to your mobile phone via the free Omron iOS and Android Wellness App, which you can easily download from the App Store or the Google Play Store.

This enables you to view your blood pressure readings anywhere and anytime and this also allows you to share all your health information with your medical practitioner and also email the readings if needed. The blood pressure monitor allows you to store 200 readings of 2 separate users (100 readings of each person).

Overall, the Omron 10 Series blood pressure monitor is the best Bluetooth blood pressure monitor that you can buy for use at home, which offers reliability, ease of use and accuracy.

Runner Up: Panasonic EW3109W Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor

The EW3109W Upper Arm Monitor from Panasonic is the best upper arm blood pressure monitor that offers great convenience and allows you to measure your blood pressure quickly and reliably, anytime and anywhere you want.

The Panasonic EW3109W has a Digital Filter Sensor which detects only the vital pulse oscillation and removes all the extraneous sounds that may result in inaccurate blood pressure readings. The BP monitor is very simple to operate and is loaded with features which enable the monitoring of your blood pressure, as well as, your heart health easy and convenient.

source: shop.panasonic.com

The digital technology of Panasonic enables the monitor to record the blood pressure measurements while the cuff is being inflated, so that it does not get over-tightened, which may cause discomfort to the user and also result in incorrect readings. The monitor is equipped with the one-touch auto-inflate feature that enables the cuff to be inflated comfortably and safely.

The Panasonic EW3109W is equipped with an “Easy Fit” cuff that ensures comfort while wearing it on your upper arm and also produces accurate results. The monitor has a sleek and slim baton-style design, which allows the cuff to be rolled around it easily and this fits into the storage pouch conveniently.

The Panasonic BP monitor’s lightweight and compact design allows it to be carried around conveniently wherever you go and also allows easy storage.

The monitor has a large-sized display with clear symbols and characters that allow you to see the readings clearly. The monitor is equipped with flashing lights that alert you in case your blood pressure is too high.

The Panasonic monitor records and stores around 90 readings at one time and it can also calculate the average reading, which enables you to monitor your BP over a period of time. However, the blood pressure monitor has the capability of storing the information of only a single user. The monitor comes along with a storage pouch and 4 AA batteries.

The Panasonic EW3109W monitor is indeed an excellent monitor which is easy to use, has plenty of features and offers superior performance, which makes it the best digital blood pressure monitor in its category to use at home and measure your blood pressure.

Alternative: Omron 5 Series Blood Pressure Monitor

If you are on the lookout for a simple and basic monitor to measure blood pressure for use at home that is affordable too, the Omron 5 Series Monitor is a good buy. The Advanced Accuracy of Omron helps to deliver precise and consistent readings at all times.

The Omron 5 BP monitor is easy and quick to operate and has many useful features. The blood pressure monitor has a one-start button operation and can record up to 60 readings. It also can calculate the average of the last three readings within 10 minutes and displays the correct result.

source: omronhealthcare.com

The monitor also has the capability of detecting abnormal heartbeats and is equipped with an indicator that alerts you in case your readings are very high or hypertensive. The Omron 5 monitor has a BP level bar that shows how your blood pressure reading is compared to the normal BP levels.

The monitor has dual settings that can store the readings of two different users and offers memory for storage of up around 100 readings (50 per person) along with the time and date stamp for easy reference later on.

The Omron 5 monitor has a D-ring cuff that comfortably fits a range of arms sizes, standard to large (fits arm sizes up to 9” to 13” in circumference) and offers greater comfort while measuring the blood pressure. The Omron 5 monitor unit comes along with 4 AA batteries, a wide-range cuff, a quick start guide and an instruction manual in both English and Spanish.

So, if you want to buy a monitor to measure blood pressure at home, that is affordable and does not create a dent in your pocket and at the same time offers a decent set of features and allows you to measure blood pressure quickly, easily and accurately, then you should definitely go in for the Omron 5 Series monitor.

What Features To Look Out For

So, the question is, what is the best blood pressure monitor? This can be quite a difficult one to answer as there are hundreds of models out there and several different types and brands that you can choose from. Nevertheless, here are some features that any good blood pressure monitor should have.

Types Of Blood Pressure Monitors

Blood pressure monitors for home use are available in various types such as:

Manual And Automatic Monitors

Manual models usually require you to inflate the cuff by pumping the bulb whereas, in the case of automatic blood pressure models, the cuff inflates automatically. These models usually operate by just pressing a button and are much easier to operate than manual monitors.

Wrist And Upper Arm Cuff Monitors

The most common type of blood pressure monitors are the upper arm cuff models. These are typically worn on the upper arm and automatically inflate the cuff to get the blood pressure readings.

Although the cuff may be a bit difficult to put on, it is much easier to hold at the heart level in order to get proper blood pressure readings. Arm cuff models are easier to read, as they have larger displays.

In the recent years, wrist blood pressure monitors are becoming quite popular. These look like large-sized wrist watches, they are fully automatic and are quite easy to wear; however, these may be difficult to position at the heart level for the correct blood pressure measurement.

Wrist models are smaller, compact and more discreet and they are especially beneficial, as they are lightweight and portable and you can carry it with you wherever you go.

Can It Store Measurements?

Some blood pressure monitors can collect and store the readings of one or many users depending on the model. This is a good feature to have, especially if you’re sharing your blood pressure monitor with another person at home.

Several app-based blood pressure monitors give you more memory storage and can be integrated with other health apps. Some BP monitors have memories with time and date stamps and allow you to download your results and you can also share your readings with your medical practitioner or even mail them if required.

Brand

A blood pressure monitor is a vital equipment that may be critical to your medical treatment. The monitor should be reliable and give you accurate readings over time, as getting wrong readings can affect your treatment adversely.

So, you should ensure that you buy a home blood pressure monitor from a reputed manufacturer who has a good track record in the industry. Also, look for compliance or certification of the blood pressure monitor from a reputed agency.

It is also a good idea to check the warranty offered by the company. A warranty of around 2-5 years will offer peace of mind in case anything goes wrong with your blood pressure monitor.

Smart Features Bluetooth, Apps, Connectivity

These days the modern varieties of blood pressure monitors can be connected wirelessly to your smart devices such as your mobile phone or tablet via Bluetooth. This is especially useful if you want to store and keep track of all your readings electronically. Some blood pressure monitor models also allow you to do this via a smartphone app.

Some blood pressure monitors allow you to download your medical information on your computer and some even come with a memory stick or a flash drive for storage. This is beneficial if you want to share your readings with your doctor.

Does It Come With An AC Adapter?

Usually, most of the blood pressure monitors run on AA or AAA batteries. Some models can also run on electricity. If you plan to keep your blood pressure monitor plugged in at all times or connected to the computer, then an AC adapter is necessary. Most of the monitors do not have an AC adapter included with the monitor and may have to be purchased separately if required.

Weight And Size

The size of the pressure cuff is an important aspect to consider when buying a blood pressure monitor. It is extremely important that the cuff is the right size and fits the arm of the person properly, otherwise, the readings that you will get will be inaccurate. Blood pressure cuffs usually come in various sizes, standard, large and small.

Most times, the blood pressure monitors indicate the range of arm circumference on the packaging. However, it is a good idea to check the specific size in inches or centimeters before buying a monitor for greater accuracy rather than buying a generic size.

If the cuff is too small you will get very high readings, while if the cuff is too large the readings will be very low. It is recommended that the inflatable portion of the cuff must cover at least 80 percent of the circumference of the upper arm and the pressure cuff should cover at least 2/3rd of the distance from the shoulder to the elbow.

When buying a blood pressure cuff, it is a good idea to measure the arm of the person around the bicep, using a measuring tape.

Small Cuff: 7”-9”

Standard Cuff: 9”-13”

Large Cuff: 13”-17”

If you require a cuff larger than 17 inches, then you may have to get help from your doctor in finding one or you could look for a thigh cuff. Or, you could buy an extended range cuff that can fit arms of larger sizes.

Sometimes, the upper arm dimensions may not be applicable to children or elderly people and so you may have to order a cuff of a special size. Alternatively, you can use a finger or wrist monitor to measure the blood pressure, although these may not be very reliable compared to cuff blood pressure monitors.

It is always a good idea to evaluate the various models and brands of blood pressure monitors available in the market and finally make a decision on the basis of the features and one that will work the best for you based on your requirements.